Corporate Accounting and Accountability for Water in a Chinese Context
type: CreativeWork
description: Water is one of the most vital natural resources, essential for sustaining ecosystems, human well-being, and economic development. Yet freshwater is exceedingly scarce, with less than 1% of the earth’s water readily accessible for human use. Industrial pollution further strains these limited resources, underscoring the urgency of corporate accountability in water management. Against this backdrop, this thesis investigates water-related information disclosures and corporate water accountability in China. Five research questions guided this study, which related to (1) the extent of water-related disclosure by Chinese companies; (2) motivations for disclosure; (3) stakeholder expectations; (4) whether disclosures meet these expectations; and (5) challenges to corporate water accountability. China provides an ideal context for such an investigation given its global economic role and persistent water issues. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. First, content analysis was used to examine disclosures by 190 listed Chinese companies across their annual reports; corporate social responsibility reports and sustainability reports; and websites. A novel water-specific disclosure index and scoring system were developed to measure the comprehensiveness of the information disclosed. To complement this, 54 semi-structured interviews were subsequently conducted with corporate managers, government officials and policymakers, and a wide range of stakeholders exert influence on corporate actions and disclosures, including shareholders, labour union managers, academics, the media, and an environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) manager. The findings reveal substantial shortcomings in current water-related disclosures by Chinese companies. Many companies provided only generalised statements lacking quantitative data and detailed explanations. Disclosure quality varied widely, indicating significant room for improvement. The interviews highlighted that stakeholder demands are a…
abstract: Water is one of the most vital natural resources, essential for sustaining ecosystems, human well-being, and economic development. Yet freshwater is exceedingly scarce, with less than 1% of the earth’s water readily accessible for human use. Industrial pollution further strains these limited resources, underscoring the urgency of corporate accountability in water management. Against this backdrop, this thesis investigates water-related information disclosures and corporate water accountability in China. Five research questions guided this study, which related to (1) the extent of water-related disclosure by Chinese companies; (2) motivations for disclosure; (3) stakeholder expectations; (4) whether disclosures meet these expectations; and (5) challenges to corporate water accountability. China provides an ideal context for such an investigation given its global economic role and persistent water issues. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. First, content analysis was used to examine disclosures by 190 listed Chinese companies across their annual reports; corporate social responsibility reports and sustainability reports; and websites. A novel water-specific disclosure index and scoring system were developed to measure the comprehensiveness of the information disclosed. To complement this, 54 semi-structured interviews were subsequently conducted with corporate managers, government officials and policymakers, and a wide range of stakeholders exert influence on corporate actions and disclosures, including shareholders, labour union managers, academics, the media, and an environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) manager. The findings reveal substantial shortcomings in current water-related disclosures by Chinese companies. Many companies provided only generalised statements lacking quantitative data and detailed explanations. Disclosure quality varied widely, indicating significant room for improvement. The interviews highlighted that stakeholder demands are a…
author: Zhu, Hong
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-27T18:46:03Z
provider: AUT University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: AUT University